Africa-focused miner Goldplat (LON:GDP) announced this morning that an independent report on its recently-acquired Banka mining lease “highlights potential for significant gold mineralisation”. Banka straddles the eastern margin of the Ashanti Gold Belt in southern Ghana. It is 10 kilometres south west of the world’s largest gold producer Newmont’s Akyem deposit, which has approximately 14 million ounces of gold. SEMS Exploration Services points out in its report that the geological setting of Banka is similar to that of the Akyem property, with Birimian volcano-sedimentary rocks occurring to the east of the property and Banket conglomerate horizons trending in north easterly direction through the western portion. The Akyem deposit also occurs within the Birimian rocks and while the “massive gold deposits of Tarkwa occur in Banket conglomerate horizons similar to those seen in the central and western portions of the Banka concession”, added SEMS. The consultant also pointed out that previous drill results include intersections of 0.8 metres at 13.2 grams per ton of gold and one metre at 11.3 grams per ton. Meanwhile historical mine records suggest artisanal miners were exploiting a gold resource estimated to be at a grading of up to 26.9 grams per ton. While the initial non-JORC compliant resource is for 262,107 ounces of gold to a depth of 100 metres at Banka, the SEMS report suggests significant potential to upgrade this and increase the resource with infill drilling, with potential to increase depth of drilling to 250 metres. Goldplat's CEO Demetri Manolis said: “This technical report underpins the prospectivity of Banka in Ghana for gold. Early exploration work already suggests that there is potential for a significant resource. Our aim is to rapidly advance this brown-field gold project, convert and raise the existing gold resource to a JORC compliant status, and develop Banka in the mid-term into a profitable mining operation.”

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